How I Help: Human Resources or L&D Teams
![HR Manager talking to employees](https://ryangottfredson.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/42196046_hr-manager-talks-with-employees-of-the-company-1024x666.jpg)
Building on my focus of helping leaders and employees become better, vertically develop, and elevate their mindsets, I can help organizations in a variety of ways. In this article, want to share how I commonly work with Human Resource (HR) or Learning and Development (L&D) teams. Types of HR & L&D Teams that I Work […]
Identifying and Dealing with Toxic Leaders
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In my experience working with organizations, I have seen my fair share of toxic leaders. And, I commonly get asked these questions by HR personnel and employees in the organization: What can be done to proactively identify, prevent, and/or deal with toxic leaders (such as narcissists and bullies) who ascend and are kept on because […]
A Measure of Your BEING Side: Your Relationship with Feedback
![Novices vs Experts look for & listen to different forms of feedback](https://ryangottfredson.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Novices-vs-Experts-look-for-listen-to-different-forms-of-feedback.png)
We have two sides to ourselves: Our DOING Side: Our knowledge, skills, talents and abilities Our BEING Side: Our character, mindsets, and psyche For most people and leaders: We are more advanced on our DOING Side than our BEING Side Almost all development efforts (across education, athletics, and organizational development) focus on the DOING Side […]
How to Help a Lower-Functioning Leader Become a Higher-Functioning Leader
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It’s a fact, some leaders operate at a higher level than other leaders. From my experience as a leadership scholar and consultant, I have found that we can evaluate leaders along following continuums to be able to distinguish the degree to which they are lower-functioning or higher-functioning: Lower-Functioning Leaders Higher-Functioning Leaders Possess a low degree […]
Most Common Executive Struggles – Part 3
![firefighters](https://ryangottfredson.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/firefighters-1024x698.jpg)
Research on vertical development has found that people can operate with different internal operating systems that vary in their cognitive and emotional sophistication.
Discussing Vertical Development with Alan Mulally
![Alan Mulally Featured Image](https://ryangottfredson.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Alan-Mulally-Featured-Image-1024x536.png)
Over the last week, I was fortunate to spend over two hours across two phone calls with Alan Mulally, the former CEO at Boeing and Ford, and someone that Fortune identified as being #3 on the list of World’s Greatest Leaders. The focus of our conversation was about the importance of helping leaders vertically develop. […]
The Five Best Non-Fiction Business/Self-Help Books I Read in 2021
![The Five Best Non Fiction Business Self Help Books I Read in 2021](https://ryangottfredson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/The-Five-Best-Non-Fiction-Business-Self-Help-Books-I-Read-in-2021-1024x536.png)
I have always loved reading because I have felt it make me a better person. Books make me a better person because they broaden my horizon, deepen my insights, and expose me to perspectives that are different from my own. In fact, as I have been writing a book on vertical development and helping organizations […]
Vertical Development Example #3: Microsoft CEOs
![Satya Nadella](https://ryangottfredson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Satya-Nadella-1024x683.jpg)
Have you ever wondered what sets apart great leaders from good leaders (or worse)? What we are learning is that the difference between great leaders and no-so-great leaders is how vertically developed they are. Or, stated differently, how cognitively and emotionally sophisticated they are. Many people do not yet know the concepts of “vertical development” […]
Vertical Development Example #2: Two Leaders of Musicians
![conductor](https://ryangottfredson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/conductor-1024x683.jpg)
Have you ever wondered what sets apart great people from not-so-great people? What developmental psychologists have found is that the difference between great people (people we admire) and no-so-great people (people we don’t necessarily admire) is how vertically developed they are. This is another way of assessing how cognitively and emotionally sophisticated they are. Unfortunately, […]
The Most Vertically Developed Leaders See Themselves as Gardeners
![Hands with small plant](https://ryangottfredson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Hands-with-small-plant-1024x685.jpg)
Any good gardener knows three things: The gardener cannot transform a seed into a tree The gardener can create the conditions for a seed to transform into a tree The more appropriate the conditions are for a given fruit-producing tree, the more fruit the tree will produce The best and most vertically developed leaders understand […]